The Avengers Adoption Scheme
by hannoel17
Summary: The Avengers Adoption Scheme, taking in orphaned kids with superpowers. But only ever the good ones, what happened when one kid breaks that mold entirely.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N Warnings for child abuse, it's featured a lot in this chapter so there's a lot of angst and quite dark. Stick with it though because it should get lighter as it goes on. Reviews would** be** lovely. **

The Avengers Adoption Scheme was a pain in Furys AAS. But it was good press, so Fury went along with it just like anything The Avengers typically propositioned. And just like anything The Avengers typically propositioned, it was giving him a migraine.

The scheme was set up not long after the Battle of New York to assure the public that not all people with superpowers would go rogue and flatten half the city. To keep up this idea, they only took on people with good psych evals, minimising the chance that the selected candidate wouldn't go rogue and destroy half the city.

But Tony Stark liked to play god occasionally, so he makes the final decision on who stays and who goes when it comes to "his" tower. And he'd somehow convinced the entire team that the latest orphan was a good idea.

"Stark" Fury snarled, pinching the bridge of his nose in a rare show of despair at the infuriating man, which only made said man happier that he'd actually got an emotion out of the director. "She told the entire psych team that she'd fry them if they asked her another 'inane' question about her parents! "

"So would I if I'd had her upbringing." Steve said in mute horror at the ghastly tale of childhood abuse and mistreatment he was currently reading through. It filled him with a bubbling rage deep in his stomach that sickos like her father had been left to roam the earth...well, before the explosion he had.

"More than half the team has experience with what she's been through, we'll be more help to her than any _foster home._ " Natasha said in an icy tone to her voice that promised a slow and painful death to any that opposed her.

"Plus the kids a genius!" Tony added and Bruce nodded in earnest and even Fury knew when to admit defeat, he sighed and the team cheered. They couldn't wait to have the technopath in their midst.

* * *

Niki "Tesla" Simmons was a skinny girl, a complete juxtaposition to the massive amounts of power she had the potential to wield. After the explosion she had died her hair a violent shade of purple that clashed with her bottle green eyes. As she stepped in to the tower, her face was twisted in to a scowl that showed she had seen too much of the world in her sixteen years. It was enough to make Tony Stark scowl and Hawkeye shift anxiously on his perch.

Before the billionaire could even introduce himself, the girl had cast her furious glare at the nearest vent and snapped out a terse

"Tell Katniss to stop aiming his EMP arrows at me or I'll blow them up in his fucking face." Which was quickly followed by an undignified squawk and the sound of several arrows being thrown down the air shaft but the scowl was replaced by an easy smile. "Hullo , I'm Tesla, thank you for taking me in for which I'm really grateful but I do hate It when weapons are pointed at me so kindly refrain from doing so or it will end badly. " she held out a hans to which Tony had to blink at twice before he was able to gingerly reach out and shake it.

The personality shift was even more fluid than his own whenever a paparazzi approached him. It was as if someone had flipped a switch that made the ripped jeans and black hoodie stop looking intimidating, and start looking like a scared little girl who had lost everything. It clutched at something in Tonys chest at the familiarity of the situation and he quickly hid it behind a mask of steel.

"Tony- Tony Stark. Follow me. " he said brusquely and turned sharply on his heel, oblivious to the flinch that flittered across the girls face.

* * *

Before the scheme, Tesla was a real life Harry Potter. She slept on a pile of towels under the stairs with barely enough room to stretch out, let alone stand up. There was a bed upstairs that she was allowed to sleep on if she was really good and promised her Father that she had repented for her sins.

The man was an overly religious drunk, a priem example of why not all of America is as forward thinking as they like to think. He thought her powers and superior intellect were actually a curse, something she should keep hidden and to maked her an outcast from society. Apparently she was being punished. For what? She knew not. Just that she must suffer in silence or she wouldn't be around to suffer at all.

The only thing she lost in the gas explosion at their tiny two floor lock up was a framed photo of her mother. She didn't mourn for her father.

Only two Avengers were in the tower, Tony to greet and Clint to provide back up after a particularly freaked kid had destroyed the lobby back in 2014. Not so fun times. It was also supposed to be the Captains job to greet newbies, Tony wasn't exactly the most...approachable person in the world. Especially when you have the temperament od a startled kitten.

* * *

Tony Stark already hated Tesla, she could tell from the way he looked at her as if he had a bad taste in his mouth. She followed after him, shoulders slumped and trying to make herself as small as possible. If no one could see her then no one could beat her.

Her room was nice, very airy, but Tesla was certain that the bed was so large to specifically torment her. Tony threw her single duffle bag in to the walk in wardrobe and made a mental note to get together with Thor and Natasha to order new clothes for the recent orphan, lord knows the girl looked like she could use a treat. Whilst these thoughts went through the engineers mind, he was once again oblivious to the expression on the young girls face as she saw how spacious her new cupboard was. The carpet that felt like heaven under her feet would surely be comfier than the matted towels she had slept on previously.

"Dinner's at six, curfew is eleven according to Cap but you'll probably get away with later if he's on a mission but don't ever be late to dinner without a good excuse or Natasha will kick the crap out of you. " he looked around the room as if searching for something else to inform her about but apparently came up with nothing "Well that's about it kid. You'll meet the team later and ask JARVIS, the AI, if you need anything and he'll help or get someone who can." Tony flashed his most charming smile to which she gave a somewhat watery imitation in return and the man, assuming she was just feeling overwhelmed, left her alone.

* * *

Tesla had never meant to fall asleep. She only meant to sit on the edge of the bed to take her boots off but it was so much comfier than anything she had ever experienced. It was like sleeping on a cloud and she was just so tired. A weariness had settled in to her bones and was slowly dragging her further and further and further until she was full on falling in to the sweet arms of the most blissful sleep she'd had in years. But when she jerked awake, it was 8:53...she was terrified.

She hadn't even managed a day.

* * *

The Avengers were just settling down to watch a movie. Despite dinner being served later than usual Tesla had slept straight through it and no one had the heart to wake the exhausted looking girl up so they left her to it. However, Steve couldn't quite get comfortable, something was tickling the back of his brain, that sensation something wasn't quite right.

"JARVIS" he asked on a whim and the rest of the team looked at him curiously "Has Tesla woken up yet?" The reply was a concerned

" awoke eight minutes ago and has been in her wardrobe since. I was just about to inform you that her levels indicate she is in significant distress. " and was enough to get the entire team running towards Teslas room.

**Once again, reviews as to whether or not I should continue this would be much appreciated. Thank you. **


	2. Chapter 2

**a/n Thankyou for reviews! It made me smiley. This chapter however, is not so smiley except for maybe a bit on the end so WARNINGS if that's a trigger for some people. **

**Concrit would be lovely. **

It says a lot about a person when they've learnt to cry silently. Most people when they cry become gross, ugly messes. When it's gotten to the point where a woman will let you see her cry, the last thing she's concerned about is her blotchy cheeks or her running nose. Not Tesla though. Her face was perfectly composed as tears raced down her cheeks, each one fighting to be the first one to drip off her face and add to the damp stain on her ratty hoodie.

Not much scared the Black Widow. She had seen an experienced the worst this world could throw at her and then some more on top just to be sure. But the look in Teslas eyes was enough to send a chill down even Natalias - the fierce ex-KGB agent who broke the first three SHIELD agents to spar with her in three different ways - spine, let alone the spine of Natasha Romanov, the girl who'd finally found a family here and was doing her best to do the same for others.

The look in Teslas eyes wasn't one of horror nor distress as one might expect. In fact, if it weren't for the aforementioned tears in her eyes as the young girl stared up at the team, Natasha wouldn't even have been able to tell if Tesla was upset. She looked up at the Avengers expectantly from where she was huddled in the far corner away from them. All of her muscles were tensed and ready. She was waiting. No one was quite certain what for.

* * *

All six Avengers were staring down at her and she felt like a lab rat under a microscope. She tensed in preparation for what would no doubt be a vicious but perfectly executed onslaught. Fear was a shard of ice in her chest but to show it would make her weak. So she sat with her back to the wall, staring at a point just past the fiery red haired womans head and just waited. Waited for the beating to begin.

* * *

Suddenly it dawned on Natasha what the girls body language meant and it was as if someone had poured a bucket of icy water down her back. Her heart stopped in her chest as white hot rage clutched it in an iron grip, the two extremes were waging war n her torso leaving behind a painful burn. The only tell was a sharp exhale through her nose, but the team knew to step back warily. In short, if Teslas father wasn't dead already, Natasha would have killed him herself...then probably resuscitated him just to kill him once more.

Tesla was just sixteen, too young to believe that when an adult approached you there was only one intention behind it. Natasha knew what it was like, Natasha had been the girl hiding in the closet, Natasha wanted to cry. And it was that rare emotion, that was so powerful and all-consuming, that she stopped thinking and swore in deep Russian before running over to the girl. Only to swear again when the girl flinched almost violently.

There was terrror in Teslas eyes now as she tried to make herself as small as possible.

"Gentlemen. " the Widow said in a slightly broken voice. "I would like you to leave now." She kept her eyes locked on Teslas, unwilling to break the contact until Steve tried a

"Bu-" to which she snapped her head back and snarled

"Leave." At them once more. The men all but fell over themselves to get out of the room because even Black Widows have maternal instincts and it worked out a lot better if you just did what Natasha told you to.

* * *

Natasha ran at her and Tesla mentally cursed herself when she couldn't stop the flinch. Natasha swore at Tesla in hoarse Russian, told the others to leave, probably because she wanted to do it herself and Tesla braced herself further as the Widow raised her hand for the first of the many strikes she was expecting.

The hand on her cheek was gentle and it froze Tesla in place. Her cheek should be on fire right now and she should feel as if someone had tried ripping her head from her shoulders again. There shouldn't be a gentle heat warming her skin as the red-head swept a rough thumb across her cheek, especially since the woman befoee Tesla had such anger in her eyes.

"Why did you think we would hurt you, little one?" Natasha asked, her emotional levels were so high she didn't even realise she was speaking Russian until Tesla babbled back in a slightly broken yet still very good version of Natashas native tongue.

"I was bad. I slept in the bed. And I missed dinner. I sorry." Tesla shook off the hand and buried her face in bony knees, just waiting for the inevitable now she'd made it so obvious what she'd done. However, Natashas response was the complete opposite of the yelling and belittling she was expecting.

"Child, we would never hurt you intentionally. You are safe here. No one will hurt you again. Yes?" Teslas head shot back up, just a glimmer of hope in those teary eyes and Natasha looked back as meaningfully as possible.

"Really?" Tesla said meekly and the elder woman nodded with a gentle smile.

"You can even sleep in the bed." And then Tesla fell on to Natashas shoulder as sobs properly wracked her body. All the tension, turmoil and torment departed as the Black Widow wrapped her strong arms around her, a silent promise to keep Tesla safe from the horrors of the world she had already seen har too much of. "Just try not to miss dinner again, eh?" She tacked on, back in English now, and she took the strangled, slightly shocked giggle as a confirmation.

* * *

Natasha left the emotionally exhausted girl in her bed, told the rest of the Avengers about the events and told them in no uncertain terms that if anyone asked Tesla about it, not even Cap would be able to walk for a week, and went to take out her anger t the world out on some unsuspecting punchbags. She'd briefly think about reimbursing Stark for the damages but since the man was so fond of reminding them, he was a billionaire so it looked incredibly unlikely.

* * *

Tesla slept almost soundly for an entire four hours. And when she followed JARVISs instructions to the communal kitchen, Tony thought he was seeing a completely different girl. Even if the little witch did sneak up on him.

There he was, playing around with the latest engine Porsch had asked him to stop making set itself on fire. In fact, he was up to his elbows in engine schematics that JARVIS had projected over the kitchen table and was just about to move it down to his lab when the she crept in to site on the other side of the table. Tony definitely didn't jump so hard that the entire engine split up and went scattering around the room.

"Oh god!" Tesla exclaimed and started plucking at the scattered pieces of engine that were currently hovering in mid air and firmly avoiding Tonys incredulous stare. He had never seen a person pick up hologram manipulation on this level so quickly, figuring it must be a side-effect of the whole being able to control electricity thing she had going on, he focused back on the chaos that was unfolding before him. "Lemme just...ugh!" Tesla began to place pieces together in a fashion completely different to thw original design and the engineer winced when she threw a particularly important bolt over her shoulder..

The original design had been so pretty too, a girl he'd have been more than happy to take on a second date of things hadn't quite worked out the first time. And now Tesla was breaking it beyond all recognition.

Tony looked at the girl in question, the circles under her eyes still looked painfully dark but she held herself a lot taller and was almost...happy as she focused on the blue shapes in front of her. Not even Iron Man was heartless enough to take that little spark of joy in her green eyes away from her.

Tony went back to looking at the engine that was beginning to take shape. Parts were thrown away and re-molded until he was looking at something completely different. She'd been broken, but broken in a good way and now the pretty engine had grown in to a sexy beast that Tony would happily drop the playboy title to monogamous legend for.

This engine would be better, faster...electric?!

Tony Stark wanted to have sexual relations with this engine.


End file.
